Tafsir of At-Tawbah 9:123

"O you who have believed, fight those who are near to you of the disbelievers" — meaning those who are close to you in terms of location. The command is restricted to them, despite His saying (Glory be to Him) at the beginning of the Surah: "Kill the polytheists wherever you find them" and the like. It is said that this is because it is known that it is impossible to fight all the disbelievers and invade all lands at the same time; therefore, those who are closer take precedence over those who are further away. Furthermore, neglecting the closest while engaging in fighting those further away does not guarantee safety from an attack on one's offspring and the weak. Also, the one further away has no [definitive] limit, unlike the one who is close, so one is not ordered to fight him [the distant one first], and it may be impossible to fight the one further away before fighting the one who is close.

Some have said: The meaning is "fight the closest, then the next closest," until you reach the further and then the furthest; in this way, the goal of fighting all the polytheists is achieved. This is guidance on the most suitable method for achieving that objective. It is from this perspective that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) first fought his own people, then moved on to fight the rest of the Arabs, then the tribes of Qurayza, An-Nadir, Khaybar, and their likes, and then the Romans. He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) began by fighting the closest, then the next closest, and his companions followed his practice (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) until their expeditions and armies reached as far as Allah (the Exalted) willed. On this basis, there is no abrogation. It is narrated from Al-Hasan that the verse is abrogated by what preceded it, but the verifiers of truth maintain there is no basis for this.

Al-Khazin, following others, claimed that the meaning of "near" (wali) encompasses both proximity of location and proximity of lineage, but this is contrary to the apparent meaning. It has also been said that it is specific to lineage, because it was revealed when people felt hesitant to kill their relatives, but the weakness of this view is not hidden.

"And let them find in you harshness" — meaning severity, as Ibn Abbas said. The ghayn can be vocalized with three vowel sounds, and it has been read as such, though the seven [canonical reciters] read it with a kasra (i.e., ghilzah). The meaning of severity includes boldness, patience in fighting, violence in killing and capturing, and the like; hence they said it is a comprehensive term. The command here is similar to [the phrase] "Let me not see you here," meaning it is not intended to command the disbelievers to find that in the believers, but rather it is a command to the believers to embody what was mentioned so that the disbelievers find them characterized by it.

"And know that Allah is with the righteous" — with [His] protection and victory. The "righteous" refers either to the addressees, where using the noun instead of a pronoun is to specify that faith and fighting in the mentioned manner are forms of piety, and as a testimony that they are among the group of the righteous; or it refers to the entire category [of the righteous], in which case they are included in it by primary right. Regardless, the statement serves as a justification for the emphasis that preceded it.